Podcast
Looking for a new job or want to move up in your company? Lesa teaches you the tools and strategies you need to land your dream job, increase your promotability, and successfully navigate your career.
350: What You Need to Know About the Job Market and Job Searching in 2025
Today, I’m talking about the job market and the job search for 2025 - a forecast of what to expect and how to manage your job search in the face of all these challenges.
349: A Framework to Help You Prepare for the New Year
As we wrap up 2024, it is a great time to evaluate what went right and what didn’t - and to set goals for 2025.
Using the STOP - START - CONTINUE - CHANGE framework, I talk about how to determine what stays, what goes, and what you do differently next year.
348: Why Poor Employee Engagement is a Leadership Problem (with Dr. Roger Gerard)
In this episode, I speak with Dr. Roger Gerard about leadership’s important role in employee engagement. He walks us through 3 types of employees a leader may encounter - the cynic, the apathetic, and the naysayer - and how to lead each.
Roger gives us 5 simple promises leaders need to make and keep to be effective.
347: New to Hiring? Here’s a Quick Guide
Whether you are new to hiring, been in the role for a while, or are a candidate navigating the hiring process, this episode is for you! I cover the 3 phases of the hiring process - and what it means for those doing the hiring and those being hired.
346: Annual List of Five Unusual Things to Be Thankful For
I do my annual list of five unusual things to be thankful for the week of Thanksgiving. This year, the “things” come directly from my experiences over the past 12 months - and what you can learn from them.
345: Why People Leave Their Jobs - and What it Means for Employers & Employees
Based on a recent Gallup pole, 70% of employees quit for reasons other than better pay or benefits. In this episode, I break down the top 3 reasons - and what employees, bosses, and c-level executives can do about each.
344: Finding Ikigai for Your Career
The concept of Ikigai is the Japanese answer to living a life of purpose. I talked about Ikigai in episode #243; in this episode, I go deeper with the concept. If you don’t feel your career is feeding your soul, here’s how to figure out what is missing - and what to do about it.
343: How to Earn Bonus Points on Your Behavioral Interview Answers
The framework I teach my clients for answering behavioral interview questions is CAR(L)
C - Challenge
A - Action
R - Result
(L) - Lessons Learned
The “L” can take two forms, which I describe in the episode and give examples of both. When used correctly, this extra step is incredibly powerful in driving home exactly what you want the interviewer to learn about you from your answer.
342: Bridging the Gap Between New, Mid-Career, and Late Career Employees (with Cheryl Fields Tyler)
My guest this week is Cheryl Fields Tyler, CEO and Founder of Blue Beyond Consulting. We are talking about the challenges – and rewards – of having multiple generations in the workforce (Baby Boomers, Gen X, Millennials, Gen Z).
Cheryl tells about the key takeaways from her research – both for younger workers and those who lead them – including the skills you need to work in a multi-generational work environment, the differences and commonalities in workers’ needs and requirements, and how to leverage a range of strengths in a diverse workplace.
341: Focusing on the Gap vs. Focusing on Your Progress
Subtitle: “Beating Yourself Up for What Didn’t Get Done vs. Celebrating What Did Get Done.”
When you don’t meet your goal - be it for your job search, your job, or your personal life - what do you make it mean?
In this episode, I cover the thinking and the doing part of regrouping without blame when things don’t go as planned.
340: How and Where to Integrate Networking Into Your Job Search Strategy
Networking is an essential part of an effective job search strategy. In this episode, I cover the benefits of networking, how to work a networking event, and how to steer the conversation during a one-on-one networking meeting. I also talk about how much networking you should be doing for your job search depending on your seniority level.
339: Hybrid Work Strategy or Hostage Negotiation? The present and future of remote work (with Wayne Turmel)
This week my guest is Wayne Turmel, and we're talking about hybrid work. Specifically, what is it (and what is it not) and why it's such a hot topic in 2024. Wayne gives us 3 great tips for navigating the hybrid and remote work landscape.
338: It’s Not Your Job’s Job to Make You Happy
Some of us coaches call it "shoulding" all over yourself. Thinking that things "should" be a certain way.
We argue with reality, even though it's an argument we can never win.
I give seven specific strategies for managing your expectations about your job, your employer, your boss, or your coworkers.
337: Four Success Traps That Lead to Burnout (with Heather Tackett)
My guest this week is Hannah Tackett, and we're talking about burnout - what it is, exactly, the 3 stages of burnout, and the success traps that lead to burnout. Hannah also shares her PEACE Pathway - an acronym for how to stay out of burnout - or avoid burning out again.
336: A Growth Mindset: What it is, why you need it
A buzz word I'm hearing and seeing a lot these days is "Growth Mindset." In this episode, I define a growth mindset and compare it to a fixed mindset, and give you 10 strategies for developing a growth mindset.
335: Health & Wellness - What are Companies Offering Their Employees? (with Heather Fuselier)
My guest this week is Heather Fuselier, board certified health coach and the author of Happy Health You: Breaking the Rules for a Well-Balanced Life. We are talking about the evolution of workplace health-related benefits and where they stand now, how to find out what a prospective employer offers during the interview process (and what their answer says about the company culture), and how to take advantage of the right benefits for you once you're on the job.
334: Influence Without Authority - How to Lead When it’s Not in Your Job Description
There are two basic types of leadership: Positional (it's in your job description to lead others) and Influential (you are leading by influence rather than job title). I talk about why influential leadership is so important, the characteristics of an influential leader, and nine strategies for leading with influence rather than authority.
333: Questions to Ask When You Are an Internal Job Candidate
I give five important strategies for preparing your questions as an internal job candidate. (Hint: These strategies apply to EVERYONE...they are simply non-negotiable when you are an internal candidate).
332: Online Job Scams: What to look for, how to avoid
Online job scams cost Americans an estimated $490M in 2023, according to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). In this episode, I talk about scammers posting fake jobs to try to either get your personal information or your money - or both. I cover the types of job scams people are falling prey to and how to spot them - as well as how to help protect yourself.
331: Overcoming Imposter Syndrome
In this episode, I give some definitions of imposter syndrome, what imposter syndrome looks like, and nine strategies for overcoming imposter syndrome.
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